Lasek procedure:

Before feeling confident enough to go ahead and have lasek surgery, people generally want to know exactly what’s involved in the Lasek procedure. People hear all sorts of things about what's involved and more often than not, what they have heard is simply not true. For example one of the biggest things that puts people off having Lasek eye surgery is the thought of having an injection in your eye. There are however NO INJECTIONS involved at all in the procedure! Your eyes are numbed using eye drops, which cause a mild stinging of your eyes for about 20 seconds.

Before you will be put forward to have the treatment you will first need to have a lasek eye surgery consultation, where you will be thoroughly assessed to check you are suitable for the procedure. The consultation will be carried out by either a surgeon or an optician (depending on the particular clinic) and they will typically check the following:

Lasek consultation:

• Your prescription: This is similar to what happens at a regular eye test. However, you are more than likely to have drops put in to your eyes (cycloplegic eye drops) which means the optician/surgeon can get an even more accurate measurement of your prescription. These drops cause your vision to be mildly blurred and hence you are advised not to drive to the appointment and generally not to drive for the rest of the day.
• Pupil size: It is extremely important to check this, as people with large pupils are more likely to have night vision problems following surgery. If your pupils are larger than a certain size, you will be recommended to have wavefront lasik as this greatly reduces night vision problems.
• Corneal thickness: In order to have Lasek eye surgery your cornea needs to be of a certain thickness. Lasek surgery requires the thinnest corneas of all types of laser eye surgery and so if your corneas are too thin for this treatment, then you will not be suitable for any form of eye laser surgery. You would then have to consider either implantable contact lenses or refractive lens exchange
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• Corneal integrity and topography (curvature): Your cornea is the part of your eye that will be being lasered and so it is important to check that it is healthy and a regular shape.
• Night vision problems: Your night vision aberrations are measured using a wavescan machine which assesses your current level of night time blurriness. If it is over a certain level, then your will be advised to have Wavefront lasik surgery otherwise you would most likely be unhappy with your night vision following surgery.
• Dryness of eyes: Lasek eye surgery will normally cause some dryness of your eyes following surgery. This typically disappears within 6 months of surgery. If you already have dry eyes, your surgeon may be reluctant to treat you as it will make your dry eyes even worse.
• General Health of your eyes: It is vitally important to check your eyes are healthy prior to surgery.

Assuming you are suitable you will be booked for your lasik eye surgery.

What to expect on the day of surgery:

• Before you have the actual treatment you will most likely have a pre-surgery consultation with your surgeon. He/she will ensure you fully understand the surgery etc and that you are happy to proceed. He/she may well take a few final measurements to double check everything is ok. After this you are ready for surgery. Your surgery will be as follows:
• Anaesthetic eye drops and an and Alcohol solution are applied to your eye. The alcohol solution softens the surface layers of your cornea (epithelium).
• A small clip is used to ensure your eyes are kept open so you do not blink.
• The epithelial layer (outer layer of your cornea) is gently loosened and moved to one side by the surgeon whilst you look at a target light.
• The Lasek laser is then applied to the inner layers of the cornea for anytime up to one and a half minutes depending on your exact prescription requirements. The higher your prescription the longer the laser will be applied for. The laser is typically applied for 10 seconds for every dioptre of your prescription. This means if your prescription is -3.00 then it will be 30 seconds etc etc.
• The surgeon then gently replaces the surface layers (epithelium) back to their natural position and they are smoothed over.
• A bandage contact lens is placed on to the eye in order to protect it.
• The procedure typically takes 20 minutes or so.
• You can then begin your lasek recovery.

If there is still anything you are uncertain of why not ask a question in our laser eye surgery forum.